Charge!! Men's School

Sakigake!! Otokojuku was one of the first series in the 80s to ride on the hype that Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) had at the time. However, unlike JoJo's Bizarre Adventure which did the same in it's initial inception, Otokojuku has become an obscurity for the most part in the common era. Whilst I have a fondness for most older titles and anything about manly men doing manly things, there's clear reasons as to why Otokojuku never rose to the same level of popularity as it's idol or peers. To start off, the plot can range anywhere from decent to poor in it'squality. The first arc is primarily a gag arc focused on parodying the hyperbolic nature of the testosterone fuelled series at the time. However, it soon transitions into a more typical battle Shonen with occasional comedy, with it constantly focusing on tournament-esque battles where the scale of fighters increases with each arc. Leaving aside a certain level of hypocrisy in mocking the ridiculousness of most action series before fully becoming one itself, the plot isn't executed that well at all. Plot armour is a trope this series is guilty of to the Nth degree, with characters constantly surviving in improbable situations and usually being given a weak excuse to explain such, to the point it's almost as bad as in Bleach. Despite constantly saying the team the main cast are now facing is in a completely different league from the previous one, even weaker, supporting characters are able to put up decent fights and win against their members without any sort of training to explain such a jump in power, as well as new, contrived abilities being thrown in whenever it suits the plot. On the subject of it's cast, all it's cast consists of cool, manly characters without any sort of depth to them. Whilst they're entertaining to watch, they have little in terms of originality with most being copies of far more fleshed out characters from Hokuto no Ken, nor are even the most exposed ones well developed. This essentially makes the series' main merit dumb entertainment, which it at least exceeds at very well. The fights are all entertaining due to the absurdity of the abilities and the choreography and deductions being interesting. If just wanting a series about manly men doing manly things, it's one of the best in it's field with constant celebrations of masculine ideals and manly tears with an art style good enough to serve such a purpose of being the discount Hokuto no Ken. However, that also raises the question of why read it when you could read/reread Hokuto no Ken's pre-timeskip material for a far better experience? Overall, Otokojuku is a decent read if you don't set your standards too high. It isn't as bad as most modern Shonen due to having at least better self-awareness of it's own quality and the manly aspects of it being an aspect surely missed in modern times, though the lack of good writing for it's plot and characters leaving much to be desired. A good read if you're a fan of Hokuto no Ken or all things GAR like myself, or an average/bad read for anyone looking for something substantial. Overall score - 5.5/10

Otokojuku is the funniest shit in the world there is this school and it's super fun and they are a bit fascist but the author knows and it's super fun and everyone loves it. If you can understand beauty and art (or even just life) you cannot not enjoy it. Then after the first few volumes it becomes another manga. Otokojuku (after the first volumes) is an 80's manga in which very masculine men fight and die and laugh together. Whether Otokojuku (after the first volumes) is a good manga in which such things happen depends on what the reader means by good manga. If "manga" is aform of entertainment or a means for the author to showcase his skills and ideas, Otokojuku (after the first volumes) is sadly not a very well performed manga, it follows a very weak plot, the stakes are very low, the characters don't really do much beside being masculine, it's artwork is not aging very gracefully and while it can sometimes make you smile there are many many funnier things to read in the genre. On the other hand, if "manga" is a format through which you (You! Not the author) explore other people's stories, then Otokojuku (after the first volumes) is still not a perfect manga (as the level of alienation you must suffer to "get into it" is much higher than in other series) but still it can help you reach a unique and honest perspective, which is something "bad" manga is not able to do. I believe you can grow a tiny bit, or you can at least learn something new while reading Otokojuku(after the first volumes) . Just be aware it can be a bit of a struggle. Still the start of the manga is really fun so if you don't care about the rest you can just read that and it's fun and nice and cool.